I hate the idea of defending misunderstood analogies, so I'll limit myself here and simply say that a memorable domain is worth more than an obscure one because

I hate the idea of defending misunderstood analogies, so I'll limit myself here and simply say that a memorable domain is worth more than an obscure one because of the traffic it draws simply by being memorable. Maybe a better analogy is branding. A better brand can charge more simply because of the public perception with no change to the service value provided. If pepsi completely ceased selling all physical products and put up for sale the right to use the "pepsi" name, you better believe the bidding would be higher for that name than for "pepsa." "But," you say, "pepsi spent years building the pepsi name." True, but consider this: abc spent years being the first three letters of the alphabet and weqporjeqwroq spent forever being nothing. As an aside, please don't bring this "holier than thou" attitude around this forum. It's a leak in your character and benefits zero readers.